Questions & Answers about Er du på arbejde?
Why does the sentence start with the verb Er?
To ask a yes-or-no question in Danish, you swap the normal word order. Instead of subject then verb (Du er meaning 'You are'), you put the verb first to make Er du ('Are you').
Why is the preposition på used here for 'at'?
Prepositions rarely translate one-to-one between languages. In Danish, you say that you are literally 'on work' (på arbejde). This is a fixed expression, so it is best to memorize på arbejde together as a single chunk.
Do I need an article before arbejde?
No. Just like in English where we say 'at work' and not 'at a work', Danish leaves out the article in this set phrase. You simply say på arbejde.
Is arbejde a noun or a verb in this sentence?
In this sentence, it is a noun meaning 'work'. However, arbejde is also the dictionary form of the verb 'to work'. If you wanted to ask about the action 'Do you work?', you would use the present tense verb instead: Arbejder du?
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